Arsenal vs. Tottenham Hotspur

North London Derby Preview

Arsenal once again face their local rivals Spurs knowing that the term 2rivals' is no longer a misnomer where Tottenham are concerned. Not only is this game about pride, as it is, was and ever shall be, but also crucial in the jockeying for 4th place.

Spurs have looked a more impressive outfit away from home than at home this season, yet Arsenal could make hay of their high line if Villas Boas intends to use it. Spurs and Arsenal will both fancy themselves to score, that's for sure.

Vital Quotes:

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger acknowledges that this fixture has taken on greater importance in terms of league position of late, 'The results in the derbies can have a big influence on the Champions League qualifying spot.

'They [Tottenham] are always a team who are fighting with us now and what's important in the end is consistency.'

'For some time we were winning championships and they were not in the top four at all, so of course they have got closer in recent years,' said the Frenchman. 'But we managed to always fortunately get above.

'It was later on last year, it was our last chance to catch Tottenham back because if we had lost the game they were out of sight.

'But this year is important as well. Every London derby is very important and we dropped some points recently so want to come back in a more consistent way of results. It's a good opportunity to do that.

'They are a good side, a dangerous side. They are quite physical. With Sandro and [Tom] Huddlestone now in the middle they are stronger physically and still very dangerous on the counter-attacks.'

Meanwhile, Tottenham manager Andre Villas Boas is relishing his first North London derby, "I think it`s normal, you really have to embrace it because it`s part of the greater culture of this game, it means a lot for both teams.

"You can`t wear red in a situation like this - at this training ground. The meaning of it is quite special and all of us embrace it.'

'I have been getting it for the last two weeks, people have been speaking about it quite often - the staff, the chairman - so you understand the importance of it,' he added.

"This is a game where passion is very high, it`s a game that represents three points, but is more than that in the history of north London derbies."

Player to watch: Jack Wilshere

He has a drive and ability to dribble that our midfield has been missing. He has only played 25 minutes in the last ten days, so should be well rested.

His return has caused a slight problem for Arteta, who has been isolated in possession in front of the back four due to Jack's preference for playing higher up the pitch. It will be interesting to see if this has been picked up on the training ground.

Tottenham Hotspur Team News:

Spurs will definitely be without midfield powerhouse Moussa Dembele with a hip injury. But Aaron Lennon and Jermain Defoe have recovered from hamstring complaints.

Player to watch: Sandro

Nobody at Spurs seems to be talking much about the long term absence of Scott Parker and the Brazilian midfielder shows you why. He has become a prominent figure in front of the back four for Spurs.

Brazil has a proud history of sheilding midfielders and andro is very much a part of Mano's plans for the national side. Sandro combines power with technique and Cazorla will have to be on his game to best him.

Match Facts & Stats

Arsenal have twice secured the league title on Tottenham's home ground.

William Gallas and Emmanuel Adebayor will be lining up against their old club.

Tottenham have won twice away at Arsenal in the Premier League, one in 1993 and again in 2010.

The last two times this fixture has been played, the side that took a two goal lead has ended up on the losing side.

However, Arsenal have only won two of the last eight Premier League meetings of the sides and of the 20 meetings at home, they've won 11 along with seven draws.

These sides have met a total of 168 times, with the Gunners winning 70, Tottenham 53 and 45 draws.

Ref Watch:

The referee will be Howard Webb.

Match Prediction:

This is a game that could go either side's way, I think it's really in the balance. Both teams will fancy that they can score, the only score that would genuinely surprise me would be 0-0.
Unfortunately, I've a bad feeling in my waters and think Spurs will edge this 3-2. Bale, Adebayor and Dempsey for Spurs, Giroud and Wilshere for Arsenal.

Next Fixtures:

Arsenal play Montpellier in the Champions League on Wednesday night in North London.

Spurs travel to Rome on Thursday night to play Lazio in the Europa League.

Your Comments (oldest first)

tsk tsk Timothy ole bean.... nice lil insurance policy you bought there at the end.... this game won't mean that much for either side pts wise as theres a long way to go. I hope Defoe& Ade start and the rest is in the laps of the gods

If its any consolation boys, I feel exactly the same about the NLD. I hate them. Don't see why Tim should be pessimistic, that's my job! I can't see where we can get a win from in this game TBH & the best I'm hoping for is a draw, but I'm expecting us to lose.

As for the unrest amongst you guys about Le Whinger, its my belief that you find yourselves in this state for one reason only & it can be summed up in 3 words. Losing David Dein. He was massive for you & with Le Whinger, made a phenomenally successful Club & it can't be coincidence that you've lost your way a bit since he left.

I don't think you can under estimate the working relationship he had with Le Whinger Dutch, he deflected a lot of the crap away from him allowing him to fully concentrate on the team. Fiszman, yeah, you are probably right & now the dynamic duo behind you manager are gone, it can't be too much of a surprise that your fortunes have suffered.

They both had a very good relationship with AW. Fiszman used to fly AW around in his private jet. Dein was good at pressing flesh, but Fiszman sold most of his incredibly profitable diamond business interests cos he wanted to devote more time to Arsenal. Dein had to sell shares to Fiszman cos he lost a *****load of money in his other business interests away from Arsenal. But together Dein and Fiszman had a good blend of qualities. Would be hard not to miss.

Hey Scotchy mate, not bad buddy, things settling down now. I'm avoiding VS at the moment as too many dicks resorting to personal abuse at others just for having a different opinion. Utterly pathetic. Comes to something when you'd rather have a conversation with your fiercest rivals! No, I've spent more time on a canal forum & I've just started using twitter. Don't use it much really & only got 3 followers, LMFAO!

You've sunk to a new low mate lol *****ter! Shame about having to avoid forum's because of abuse. I personally don't see the reason for panic currently as both teams have loads of points to play for, have had lots of injuries and are well placed for a top 4 push and when you consider the spending powers of the teams in the top 3, 4th is the best we can both realistically hope for.

That's why I've hardly used it Scotch old fruit! I only signed up to find out how a mate was doing who I hadn't heard from for a while.

Right now, I'd kill for 4th mate, not confident at all buddy. The knives are out for AVB & no one seems willing to give the guy a chance. His time with the Chavs is hanging around his neck like an albatross. Its going to take time but there's simply no patience with a section of the fans & the media in particular. Time seems to be a luxury for new managers these days. Old beetroot face at Old Trafford wouldn't have stood a chance today let alone the 5 years he was given before he won anything. I despair sometimes.

Totally agree and without trying to have a dig (well OK, just a little one) but it's not like AVB is succeeding managers we who've won you doubles or league titles etc. So why the unrealoistic expectations from some of your fellow Sp*rs fans? It's different for us, as the problems we have seem so bleeding easy/obvious (marking at corners etc) to solve yet they are ignored and the same mistakes are made each and every year. Which if addressed could of possibly led to more trophies.

So, Spurs have a better defence then, Will-i-am10? I can understand the nerves but to completely ignore the frailties in the other side is just plain simplistic. If the fans retain their belief and support, our lads will not disappoint.

Arse will predictably raise their intensity for this game, as any player not 'running and biting' will be instantly siezed on by the fans. out of self-preservation each player will do the donkey-work for this game .... as just as predictably, this level will always drop for the other games when Arse will go back to type: prim prissy football, neat and trite, and not able to turn the staleness into anything else.... enjoy today.

What I desire is a real trouncing of the Spuds.....like 7-1. But, it is a Derby and we've seen more shocking come-backs. What excites me is how even the new boys appeared to understand the spirit of the derby and are playing out of their skins. A chance to restore confidence, if ever there was one.

Viyyash you prize muppet, speaking too early and ending up with egg on your face. You'll never learn such is your stupidity. How many times do we have to teach you a lesson. Spuddies like you are an even bigger joke than your comedry manager and comedy team. Maybe with your tactical knowledge you should be the next manager of the Spuds lol

bowie.... you are a very clever fella...... I did after all say that Spuds would win easily and that this result will mean the world. like I said before the 1st goal of the game was scored: enjoy today..... Arsene Wenger is a tactical marvel. Spuds now have no chance of Top4 and we should know our place herein.... thanks Bowie xx

The truth of the matter is that Arsenal have been poor in the second half. Ade ruined the game. I think we would have won easily and were pumping Arsenal until that point. Ergo it doesn't count and I've seen nothing to suggest that Arsenal are going to improve this season.

Still an enjoyable score line. It should have been a bucket load, really. Hard to pick the MoTM between Cazorla, Theo and Giroud. They all worked so hard for the win and it had little to do with being 1 man up as we would have applied the pressure anyway.

shut the fug up Henry Brown.... Ade deserved to go and thats that. Spuds were still ahead and cudda defended a draw to at least HT where they cudda reorganised for a stiflying game, but failed to hold even a draw into the 2nd half.... on a plus point, glad to see Ade and Defoe create such a glorious chance for the goal. many won't even comment on TV about the great curved run of JD to Bale that left a 2 v 1 and the conversion by Ade was a formality. within mins. Lennon had a great chance for 2-0 and I'm convinced if the red-card had not occurred Spuds would have led 2-0 at HT... good that Lloris played and only 2pts down to a stale Arsenal with 65%+ of the season to play still.... if Spuds dont get Top4, Everton will.

Congrats Gooners.....Cheers Ade way to go there mate. 5-2 is a joke scoreline but what do we expect when we play the likes of Grandad ********* Gallas and Clint "Dont give me the ball FFS" Dempsey. Still i think there's nothing between the sides, both have 1 world class player (Santi, Bale) and a whole host of meh alongside some solid campaigners. It will go right to the wire again...See you for another goalfest in a few months at the lane

Really! We all know it doesn't count because of the actions of one man. Still he left you for us so he'll always be a hero in my eyes. Like I said, it changes nothing. In the end, we'll prevail. You're a horrible side, you really are, one of the worst. In fact that's the real frustration: losing to a poor side. Still every flea bitten scummy mongrel has his day :)

Tense and pulsating NLD as usual. Vital win for the Arsenal, it couldnt have come at a better time. Excellent performances from Giroud, Cazorla, Walcott, Kos and Sagna. Even with 10 men - two men stood out for Spurs - Vertonghen and Bale. Hope the team generate some positive momentum on the back of this result.

These recent NLD's have been (for the neutral) as entertaining as any match I can remember. So many goals, so much action and very little of the referee being the centre of attention (which makes a change eh).

We're not in too hopeless a position considering how bad our performances have been. If Man Utd lose we will only be 9 points off top which isn't too bad conisdering City have had the easiest start out of the big clubs and will surely go on to drop more points when they have tougher matches. I think the priority has to be to sign another striker and left back as our second choice players in those positions aren't looking too great at the moment. There is still a lot of room for improvement especially defensively but hopefully we can go on a good run now.

Poor HBB. You can read the pain in every syllable of his post. It's hard not to laugh so I won't try. Hahaha. Just watched Norwich outplay ManU with a far more convincing performance than they managed against us even though the result was the same. Not sure how this season will pan out but it's looking more open than we might have thought. It's gonna be interesting I think.

The one main positive of the season so far is that we've played a lot of our tough games. There's still lots of work to be done as we didn't look too convincing in defence ... but we're scoring goals now, which is always a good thing.

Nothing like a win against the tiny tots to get some of our rhythm back. Surely, we can begin to see our best combinations as we take a very critical bend in the season. Now, I know we will beat Montpellier in the mid week.

If we couldn't have beaten utter gash like that I really would have been worried, hilarious that gallas and the lanky tw*t with the flat top were the gifts that kept giving. Rimmer looks lost and clueless, long may he reign!

Ha ha ha, Agent Adebayor strikes again! Job done :)
HBB, you really need to brush up on your football facts: here are TWO.
FACT 1) Adebayor did NOT leave Arsenal for Spuds, he went to Citeh, where he was so "meh" he was only fit to be cast-off to you.
FACT 2) Arsenal are still lords of North London.

I hope this win brings back some optimism and belief (both in the team and the fans). The crowd were palpably anxious (so was I sitting at home) since we've seen this team lose 2 goal leads before. There are still problems to fix (Spurs dominated till the sending off) but this is a good start. Get the results in for another 2-3 games, don't care how, and then look to build on that with more convincing performances.

Having watched the game again (without the nervous tension), I don't think Spurs dominated till the sending off. Sure, they played some good football till then, but Arsenal had just about found their feet in the game and had put together a couple of good attacking moves. Observations on a couple of players - Sagna did not greet Adebayor before the game, stonily ignoring him (other players did exchange pleasantries). Coming after the ManU game where he wasn't enthu about meeting RvP again. Maybe he just didn't get along with either player but, to me, Sagna is just completely zoned in before the game. 2nd was the Wilshere reaction to the Adebayor challenge on Cazorla - great to see, we need more of that. He understands the derby more than others, and it showed, and it can have an important effect on the other players, as well as the fans.

merry Xmas Arseboyz.... but we all know who the better team was when 11 v 11 don't we peeps.... only 2pts down with likes of Ekotto, Parker, Kaboul to return to the squad and 60%+ of the season left.... happy to take that.... as I said BEFORE the game easier for Arse players to run and bite for this game than to play usual tempo/level/intensity, but we all know what happens now for the rest of the season: the players will AGAIN disengage as its almost back to the Cazorla FC scene again thanks to the 'experts' in the Media.... 6th.

Ekotta in no.1 LB at the club, Kaboul is the best CB by far, and Parker is better than Huddlestone as an alround midfielder, and I forgot to mention Dumbbelly returning too, also our 'Diaby' Ade has settled well (bar the obvious 24hrs ago) and will galvanise the again.... its a squad game for the league peeps and those players will increase the quality of the team on any given day.... yous only have Diaby (your best player) to return otherwise youre at full-strength now.... far more upside for Spuds methinks xx

oh , and youve Rosicky, Gibbs to return (but Gibbs especially has already played few games this season).... not even about that is it, cos after the Spuds game your players will again fade into the staleness that will take more than 1 game to shift... its the AW way, and yesday's win should now ensure AW and his 1 striker 4-3-3 stays abit longer, so its all good..

shut up windbag, save your wittering jibber jabber for your own lot, noone here gives a rats rectum. 5-2 muppet just as it was 9 months ago, stick your excuses in Rimmers 'how to be a coach manual' that he was seen so forlornly staring at.

girls should not be so vulgarly rude Nicola, you won't find a husband that way, you know... all I will ask of Arse fans is that they remember how well your team played (albeit against 10 men for 75% of the game)... remember this game in Dec, Jan and especially Feb,,,, after most games played in fact.

of course we'll remember it's easy isn't it? we mullered you 5-2. How could you forget that? 5-2. Same as it was nine months ago, 5-2, we'll remember it alright don't worry about that sunshine, it's you that'll try to forget it or come up with pathetic excuses.

Wah wah Assole risotto wah wah parker wah wah kaboul5h1t. What you mean the three numpties that played for you in february when we walloped your skinny featherless chicken arse wait for it......5-2. Pillock.

Spuds never change do they. Any day now, this season, next season, when the year end's in one they'll dominate the game just as they did 50 plus years ago. They still play in black and white in homage to those dusty old days. The evidence for this inevitable resurrection despite having lost 3 games on the trot? - "We did good for 10 minutes". Not hard to see where spuds reputation for delusion comes from is it.

now your on a roll, crank it up abit more.... it is important to remember wins like yesterday's cos it makes you all feel sooooo goood... ignorance is indeed bliss LOL... Spuds are now the superior team to Arse, but dont expect the sheep (on either side) to know this yet, but certainly by mid-Jan'13.... like I said before Ade's goal yesterday, enjoy it while it lasts

What exactly is the promised land of mid jan '13 based on you tiresome nutjob? Ok I'll indulge you if only to expose your melty logicless piffle. The so called superior pfffffft spuds have Liverpool man utd west ham stoke Reading and swansea at home, fulham everton, QPR villa and sunderland away. We have swansea WBA west ham newcastle and citeh at home, villa everton reading wigan southampton away. Nope don't see anything there that will signify spurts being comfortably ahead of us after those fixtures are dusted. Especially given the fact they have to trawl dejectedly around the backwaters of provincial europe playing the footballing giants of Haribo and FC Dreck on thankless thursday. Thanks for trying though even though you do make Adebayor seem like Plato.

I think the sheep are those spuds who bleat the same old trite mantra 'we're gonna end above Arsenal' that they've bleated continuously for a couple of decades now. Celebrate if and when it happens by all means but it's better to shut up until it does. Not in the nature of the standard deluded spud sheep though.

Plato was over-rated then Nicky (if I may call you that). its a cunning plan tho': hanging around on football websites to get to know men (with few other females about)... we do have a handsome manager tho', dontcha fink...

So that's why you're here spuddie? Tired of the sheep over at your own place I suppose. You're getting shafted here right enough but I think you're really looking for a different type of website altogether.

Exactly Amos, only a few months ago and this prat was here on our forum running his own team down and saying they should sack rimmer before he'd even had a chance to pull on his cock emblazoned sackcloth, just a clueless headless joke the lot of em, if they were to chop the head off that scrawny basketball riding chicken it would be a far more accurate representation of the little club that could (next year)

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